Yesterday we went to buy some cows from a new friend of ours in Louisburg. We have our great friend Ernie to thank for introducing us because even though we are in the same business, Jason and I had never met one another. It turns out that Jason raises exactly the kind of cows we need, and he does so in volume. These cows, like ours, have never had commercial feed. Jason speaks our language.
Spork and The Princess tagged along for the adventure because where else can you go load cows in the snow and ice while freezing in the wind. You gotta love farm kids.
We picked some really great cows from Jason’s broad selection and were able to easily load them onto our trailer. In fact it was so easy that I didn’t actually do anything. It’s a pleasure to buy from actual cattlemen because they know what they are doing and how to get it done. Because Jason and Brad were doing all the work, I led the kids through the barn because I heard dogs barking and Jason said there were puppies. In fact, he joked that after the trailer was full of cows, he was going to put some puppies in the front seat.
The kids were more than entertained by the puppies while we got the cattle secured. After loading, I went back to retrieve the kids and get them loaded. Turns out they cattle were easy, the kids, not so much. Spork and The Princess both started telling me how cute the puppies were and how much they liked them. I had noted that one of the puppies was very shy and would scamper off whenever there was any increase in attention. This was while the other dogs were rolling over for scratches, climbing over each other, yapping and generally being puppies. However I noted that this particular puppy always came right back and showed no signs of having been abused, but was just very shy. I like shy dogs, for whatever reason. Probably because I’m allergic to them and shy dogs don’t get in your face like a normal dog. Jason was joking about loading dogs into the truck so I asked what kind of dog those were. Australian Heelers was the reply. Cattle dogs, now we’re talking.
I’d been looking at cattle dogs off and on for a few years now. Nothing serious but always keeping my eye out. Here were bona fide cattle dogs, not from some fancy breeder, but from a working cattle farm. Doesn’t get much more authentic than that. And there was a shy one, just like I like. I asked Jason how much?
“Free, just take one or all and give them a home. ”
I asked the kids if they really wanted a dog. They were shocked I would even consider it. I think they are still shocked I agreed. They started jumping up and down even faster and got really excited. I figured 8000 pounds of cows were already going home on the trailer, what was 10 pounds of puppy!?
We piled in the truck, all four of us now. There was immediately conversation between the kids on what to name the dog, was mom going to be mad, what would Wildflower say, can we really keep him, etc. I kind of tuned them out because I was watching the trailer and making sure everything was going ok, and also following Jason to his other farm where he wanted to show me some cattle equipment that he sells. We quickly arrived at his place and I hopped out to see what he had. The kids of course stayed with the puppy in the truck. After 15 minutes of conversation with Jason, I hopped back in the truck where the kids immediately informed me that the dog’s name was King Samuel Moore, King for short. Hmm, easiest time I ever had picking a name, didn’t even have to be involved. King it is!
We spent the rest of the ride talking about my previous dogs names (Prince, all of them, I’m kind of like George Foreman), was mom going to kill us (probably), where he would sleep (inside till it warms up a bit), and was this a good name (yep, suits me, suits him.) There is nothing quite like riding home with a new puppy, especially when there is the excitement that everyone thinks mom might kill us when we get home. There is no fruit like forbidden fruit.
As I secretly suspected, mom was surprised but happy. She LOVES dogs.
I’m sure there will be more pics of King to come. I’m looking into trainers for herding dogs. Luckily we herd cows routinely here so he will get plenty of practice. The only problem is I told Miguel I would teach him his commands in Spanish. Now I have to learn Spanish an herding dog both!